Mets Liked Lackey, Preferred Bay

A major league source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that the Mets thought a five-year offer to John Lackey would be riskier than a four-year offer to Jason Bay. The Mets, who say they are not concerned about Bay's defense, ultimately signed the outfielder to a four-year $66MM deal with a vesting option for a fifth year. They talked to Lackey and had strong interest in him, though they considered Bay the safer choice.

“We liked Lackey,” GM Omar Minaya said. “We thought Lackey was probably the best starting pitcher out there. As for as Bay, we thought we needed a power hitter."

Bay thinks the Red Sox were smart to add another top starter to their rotation. He told Bradford in this article that the Lackey signing was "genius" and the team's rotation is "ridiculous."

Comments

Sweet so instead of making just one bad signing, they also liked the idea of another bad signing too.
Good to know.
Giving 5 year contracts to these two is a mistake, Lackey has been getting worse the last two years and Bay is going to drop off a cliff and is already a terrible defender.

I got my crystal ball one summer back in 2005 when a Gypsy camp moved in on the wasteland behind my house. One of the gypsy elders had a striking young daughter who despite the deformities was hauntingly beautiful. Not soon after we started dating, little did she know I was just using her to steal her Grandfather’s(Who was also her Uncle)crystal ball.
Anyway cut to 2010 I still have the crystal ball, was it worth the subsequent curse? Well I’ll let you know when the genital boils go down and my duck bill is removed, until then we’ll say the gypsies won this round.

OR

I could have just assumed that any John Lackey deal would have been similar to the one he signed with Boston. Safe in the knowledge Boston’s FO is quite good and if they could have got him for cheaper they would have.
Baseball is fairly easy to predict, there are numerous sites/people who make these predictions although I’m sure to you such chicanery would be considered witchcraft and said predictors would be burnt at the stake.

Hugs & Kisses,
Jack.

*No offense was meant to the Gypsy community, I was using my daring wit to respond to a ridiculous post.

still doesnt say anywhere that they liked the deal boston gave except in your little head. in fact, if anything it infers the opposite. there is nothing to suggest lacky or bay are going to completely fall off during their contract. if both get seriously hurt during the contract, bays 5th yr doesnt vest and i know boston worked something into lackeys deal involving a possible injury. try again!

It doesn’t have to say that they liked the deal. That was the going rate for Lackey this off season. How it infers they didn’t like him at that price I don’t know, all it tells us is they preferred Jason Bay.
Lackey has steadily declined over the past few seasons and power pitchers over 30 who have had injuries the past two years don’t really project to start to either get better or regain past form.

Jason Bay is already a terrible defender and has the type of skill set that doesn’t age well, this is widely known. In a season where the Mets aren’t going to win the NL East and still have a relatively young core I fail to see the logic in signing a player who figures to be decent the first 2 years and then awful the next 2-3 especially when Crawford & Werth will be FA’s next off season.

Well I think it would be a major improvement to have Crawford patrolling the outfield at…wait – exactly where would the Mets put him? Is it possible they could they “toss” Frenchy and insert Crawford in RF? I would think he’d have the range for it. Of course I can make all the phantom plans I like, but how exactly the Mets could trade for him (let alone sign him) is the real question.

Are either of you suggesting that the glorious Mets FO would have been able to get Lackey at either a cheaper price than Boston did OR less years?
That simply would not happen, here it says they liked Lackey but preferred Bay. If they liked Lackey it would have been 5 years at least $80 mil or they wouldn’t have got him.

Of course the Mets are going to say that. They are not going to say that Lackey was their number 1 priority (even though they desparately needed pitching), because he did not even give them the time of day after talking to Boston. This report is a simple attempt to appease fans.

Hmm I just don’t see him signing to the Mets at a worse deal. If anything he would have taken less to go back to Anaheim. I think he saw a contending team offering him what he wanted(We all heard the AJ Burnett contract was a starting point)and he knew the market and took it. The Red Sox are overpaying him but I really struggle in such a lackluster SP FA market to believe he would have signed for much if anything less.

I really do wonder what made Boston jump though, they really did rush through this when they didn’t have to. My first thought is that the Marco Scutaro being a Toronto player and his A status had something to do with it them not wanting their highest pick to go to a division rival. I think this deal is definitely going to come back and bite them.